The Buzz
Make new employees feel welcome, part of the team
Q : We’re in the midst of a huge project and I am hiring some new team members. What’s the quickest way to get them up to speed?
A Research shows that the success of new hires is set as early as the first two weeks. The degree to which you can make them feel welcomed and prepared for their new jobs, the faster they will be able to successfully contribute to the organization. Proper onboarding is different from an administrative orientation – which outlines rules, policies, pay and benefits. Onboarding acclimatizes new hires in four key areas:
Socialization with team members and other employees to learn the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviours required to succeed within an organization. Create immediate inclusion and investment by arranging a social event with members and a oneon- one with the team leader on the first day.
Assimilation to the company’s culture – such as history, vision, mission and values, work style, customs and power structure – helps the employee function effectively. Assigning a peer mentor aids navigating the organization.
Understanding business strategies jargon and acronyms, market position and competition, systems and processes, recent accomplishments and challenges provides clarity and rationale.
Role and responsibilities and how they contribute to the company’s mission. Explicit expectations for performance and productivity prioritizes and focuses. Outlining career paths and development opportunities inspires hope and investment.
Almost one third of new hires last less than one year, costing 50-150 per cent of their annual salary in lost productivity and replacement costs.
Onboarding takes place over 30 to 120 days and on the first anniversary. On Day 1, implement only the basics, provide necessary work equipment, security badge and take them to lunch to connect on a personal level. Following a formal structured onboarding process creates assimilation, accelerates productivity and increases retention.
Originally published in The Province, August 10, 2014.
Coaching a sign you’re valued
Q: I am a new team leader and feel I am being pressured by my boss to take coaching. I don’t feel I need it, but they are insisting I take it. Since the external coach has been hired by the company, I am suspicious that he will try to force the company’s agenda on me. Do you agree I should be concerned?
A: Coaching is a sign that the organization values you enough to invest in you because it is intended as a developmental, not a remedial platform.
Organizations commonly sponsor coaching to support the employee’s performance, career objectives, role confidence and management competencies.
If coaching is part of your company’s leadership development strategy, get clarity from your supervisor about their expectations for the engagement. Organizations often hire external accredited coaches who have no roles or influence within the organization so they can provide objective feedback and perspectives and avoid conflict of interest.
While the organization pays for the coaching and the supervisor and coachee may together determine the coaching goals, the conversations between coach and coachee are confidential.
The coachee, not the coach, reports out any results.
During the sessions, the coach does not direct, advise or tell the coachee what to do. They develop the client’s ability to make decisions, address key concerns, and develop themselves – to get feedback, to determine priorities and set the pace of learning, to reflect on and learn from experiences.
It is the coach’s duty to advocate for the coachee.
Surveys have shown 85 to 95 per cent of coachees have been satisfied with their coaching experience and return on investment to the organization can be as high as 800 per cent.
Reprinted from The Province, July 20, 2014.
Isolating worker IS bullying
Q I’ve hired a new employee and I am observing the five existing team members excluding him and talking about him behind his back. How should I handle it?
A: Ignoring a co-worker with the intent to harm or control, treating them differently than other peers and co-workers, or ostracism, isolation, dissociation or exclusion from others is workplace bullying.
Leaders either create or eradicate a bullying culture by how they behave and what they accept in the workplace. Do not ignore, condone, permit or contribute to any form of exclusion of any employee. Put a stop to any subtle signs of exclusion immediately.
Not acting sends the message that the behaviour is endorsed. Toxic behaviour will grow to eventually subvert the workplace if staff sees there are no consequences. Workplace bullying destroys teams, collaboration, willingness to contribute and increases turnover.
Some steps to diffuse a toxic work environment :
- Calling a staff meeting to educate everyone about what is considered bullying, how to respond to potential bullying behaviours and whom they can go to for help.
- Acting swiftly and firmly. Insisting everyone at the workplace act respectfully and professionally to all staff, suppliers and customers.
- While you may have a code of conduct, establish a written respectful workplace/anti-bullying policy that outlines acceptable and prohibited behaviours – including consequences, remediation and possible disciplinary action for violations.
The most important indicator of a successful workplace prevention program is management’s commitment. For tips on how to set up your policy go to www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/bullying.html or seek the help of an HR professional.
Reprinted from The Province, June 22, 2014.
Time outs can help you reach your goals
Q I have so much on my plate that I don’t know where to begin. I feel so overwhelmed that all I do is procrastinate. I have to meet my deliverables; how do I get back on track?
A Everyone procrastinates from time to time. We negotiate, rationalize, justify or excuse ourselves just to avoid doing something we dread or don’t know how to tackle.
Avoid beating, badgering or berating yourself, which will only demotivate you further.
Perhaps the goals are overly ambitious or too complex, creating discouragement and undue stress.
Setting and celebrating smaller benchmarks or milestones leverages the power of small wins by building motivation and momentum.
Believe it or not, possibly the best thing you could do for your situation is to take a time out.
Take a 20-minute nap, or go for a walk.
Stepping back can provide new information, a bird’s-eye view or a muchneeded perspective shift.
Envisioning what it would be like to be congratulated for being successful; what life would be like without the burden or the impact the results would have on others can be a useful way to reframe the work.
You may have the best intentions of fulfilling your goals, but when kept to yourself, you have less than a fifty-fifty chance of attaining them.
Go public. Set deadlines for yourself and tell your team members to hold you accountable.
The benefit of writing down your goal and sharing it with someone else will increase the likelihood of you achieving it to almost 65 per cent.
That figure goes up to almost 80 per cent if you also provide them with weekly progress reports.
The added value of asking for help is potential innovation, collaboration and delegation which can provide you with much-needed respite and relief.
Originally printed in The Province, May 18, 2014
Right brain thinkers bring new ideas to team
Q I’ve always hired the best and brightest with the top expertise and track record. As a result, my high-performing team keeps producing successful but predictable solutions. What else should I be looking for in new hires to add innovation?
A: Innovators are also often well-trained experts in their field who are also curious nonconformists, open to new experiences.
Look for non-linear thinkers who thrive on complex puzzles. They apply knowledge creatively and push the limits on conventional thinking by challenging underlying assumptions and the status quo. Their strong right brain function strives for unique solutions.
Innovators are often proactive, enthusiastic early adopters. They love novelty and are gifted at brainstorming, generating ideas and envisioning the possibilities at the front end of a project. They are often better at spotting problems and opportunities rather than solving them. The more linear thinkers will be better at executing the plan.
Innovators are adaptive, resilient and have an entrepreneurial mindset. They value persistence, collaboration and creative discussion to test the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of their ideas.
Those who are flexible enough to include and incorporate others’ ideas are best for a team. They are committed to generating the best solution rather than their solution.
While innovators produce ingenious solutions, working with them requires additional time for the creative process before achieving deliverables. Innovation requires creativity, the ability to access the usefulness, and then implementing the idea for a successful solution.
This new team dynamic can be disorienting and uncomfortable for the existing members. During this transition, facilitate the culture shift by supporting members to leverage their own unique strengths, include and optimize their different capabilities, and work cohesively to reach a common purpose.
These characteristics will round out your team.
Originally published in The Province April 13, 2014.
